Official Club Hangout _
OHIO CHAPTER OF THE NEW ENGLAND MG-T REGISTER
&
BUCKAYES, A NAMGAR CHAPTER
Gathering of the Ohio Faithful
Event Schedule
Sept. 24-26, 2021
This event schedule is subject to change.
Click here for detailed hotel information and our rates.
Click Here for a printable event flyer.
**Click Here for the Online Event Registration Form**
Also, see info below for our friends from others clubs who may wish to drive in/out for just one-day attendance on either Friday or Saturday of the event.
Friday, Sept. 24, 2021
The Ohio Chapter GOF will begin as folks come off the island on Friday morning, or you may drive straight to our first activity directly from your home. We will kick things off with a self-pay lunch at the Tin Goose Diner, located on-property at the Liberty Aviation Museum near Port Clinton, Ohio. This is a fully-restored 1950’s vintage diner which has great views of the Erie-Ottawa County Airport. Enjoy menu items all named after aviation-related terminology and famous personalities, each explained via a fun brochure you can pick up before being seated. When arriving, please park in the front lot, located at 3515 East State Road, Port Clinton, OH 43452. Please arrive late morning or early afternoon and allow about 1.5 hours for lunch. At 1:45, we’ll move the cars from the front parking lot and inside the airport security fence for parking on the airport tarmac.
At 2:00 Friday, we’ll have everyone stand by their cars for a GROUP PHOTO in front of the famous Island Airlines Hangar. We will then spend the next two hours visiting the two large buildings and surrounding grounds which comprise the Liberty Aviation Museum. This is a working museum featuring a fully operational WWII B-25 Mitchell bomber named “Georgie’s Gal,” a Lake Erie Warbirds’ TBM Avenger, a WWII PT Boat exhibit, an original military uniform collection, plus other aircraft, interesting vehicles and unique artifacts. Spoiler alert: they have a TD in their car collection, donated by a local philanthropist. (Does anyone know this car?) The museum also houses an ongoing restoration of an Island Airline’s Ford Tri-Motor airplane. The cost for the museum tour is included in the event registration fee for the weekend.
After the tour (approx. 2 hours long), the hotel is only a short drive away with check-in available after 4:00. Attendees will have time to rest before we enjoy dinner plans on-property Friday night. (When you arrive at the hotel please park all the way to the left—we will have spaces taped off—this will allow us to reserve this half of the parking lot for our car show on Saturday morning.)
Friday’s dinner (at 6:30) will be in a grassy area just outside the lower level of the hotel, overlooking Sandusky Bay. We will enjoy at Pit BBQ-themed dinner, locally catered, consisting of baked quartered chicken, pulled pork, potato salad, baked beans, homemade potato chips, coleslaw and cornbread. Refreshments will be provided by the club. The cost of dinner is all-inclusive (including taxes and gratuity).
After dinner, folks are welcome to swim (2 pool complexes on-property), play shuffleboard, tennis, or simply walk the grounds of the resort. The hospitality room (the lower-level conference room) will be open for folks to spend time catching up, or act as our rain location for dinner, if needed.
It’s been over two years since we’ve last been together for a club event, so folks are welcome to enjoy light snacks, assorted beverages, play games or simply visit in the hospitality room all evening.
Saturday, Sept. 25, 2021
The hotel will provide a cold continental breakfast as part of your room rate.
After breakfast, we will hold an Informal Saturday morning car show in the parking lot of the hotel from 9:15-10:30 a.m. No judging involved (as has been customary for the Ohio Chapter), just for fun and to talk about the cars. But, we do intend to have a little fun with it this time around…
Saturday will feature a leisurely drive and the following popular local attractions:
(See below…)
-
11:00 to 12:15, The Merry-Go-Round Museum – Relive your childhood as you ride a fully-restored Allan Herschell carousel and see items to increase the public’s awareness, knowledge and appreciation of the history of the carousel. A working woodcarving shop is on-site and the museum continues to seek artifacts from amusement parks, carnivals and private individuals to encourage the appreciation of the amusement and carousel industry. The cost for the museum tour is included in the event registration fee for the weekend and includes one ride on the carousel.
-
Until Noon (optional) – The Sandusky Farmer’s Market will be held on the square adjacent to the M-G-R Museum (attend before or after your visit to the museum, if interested).
-
12:30 to 1:30, Lunch – – We will drive across downtown and now be at the Sandusky Yacht Club (a change, the brewery pulled out on us). We will enjoy an All American Cookout of grilled burgers, dog & brats, macaroni salad, baked beans, potato salad, corn on the cob, seasonal fruit and cookies. Coffee, hot or I iced tea and lemonade included, cash bar available. Park on the west (left) side of the parking lot and look for the hexagon topped pavilion (in case of rain, we’ll be inside the west entrance to the facility). Handicapped spots are near the door, if needed). The cost of lunch remains the same with this recent change of venue.
-
1:45 to 2:45, The Maritime Museum – Preservation of Sandusky’s maritime heritage is the mission and we’ll dive right in and have a boatload of fun as we experience interactive exhibits to learn about boat building, ice harvesting, commercial fishing, shipwrecks and the area’s surrounding wetlands. Sandusky’s role in the Underground Railroad, plus recreational boating, commercial shipping and the passenger boat industry will be covered. The cost of the museum tour is included in the registration fee for the weekend.
-
3:00-3:20 – Maria’s Field of Hope/Sunflowers at Cedar Point – What would you do if one day you were told your otherwise normal, healthy, 6-year-old girl had a terminal brain tumor that would take her life within a year? This is exactly what happened to Ed and Megan McNamara whose daughter, Maria, was diagnosed with a diffused intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) on April 1, 2006. After Maria was diagnosed with the tumor, the Sunflower became her symbol of hope and later represented the Prayers From Maria Foundation founded by her parents. In the language of flowers, the Sunflower is the Flower of Hope. Cedar Point donated this land and planted the sunflowers as an ancillary project to the Foundation's main location in Avon (far west side of Cleveland). Maria died on July 14, 2007 at the age of seven. There is no fee to visit the field, but the club will make a donation on behalf of our group's visit on this day.
-
4:00 TBD – There is a possibility we may do a Drive-by Car Parade through the grounds of the Ohio Veteran’s Home. Begun as the “Ohio Soldiers and Sailors Home” in 1888, the Sandusky home is one of two in Ohio and one of the largest nursing care facilities in the country. We will not stop or get out of the cars, but, depending on the pandemic status at the facility, may be able to drive through the grounds and wave to the residents to convey our thanks to them for their service.
-
4 :15 – We will have visited many of the historic and popular sights in the area. However, this is (after all), a Smittle-planned event and the drive wouldn’t be complete without ICE CREAM! We’ll visit the legendary Toft’s Dairy factory-store for a late-afternoon treat, on your own.
-
5:00 (optional) – Choose to return to the hotel to rest, or continue motoring through the historic Village of Marblehead and continue on to experience the beautiful grounds and shoreline of the iconic Marblehead Lighthouse. An easy and beautiful drive around the peninsula will take you from the Lake, on the north, to the Bay side on the south (hence, the name, South Beach Resort); a perfect way to conclude today’s picturesque tour!
Saturday night will be our traditional awards banquet, conveniently located in a private dining room adjacent to the hotel. Refreshments will be provided by the club (as a catered event, we do not need to have a cash bar). A buffet dinner will begin about 7:00 with the menu including: stuffed chicken breast, salmon with dill butter, manicotti, buttered red skin potatoes, green beans with bacon, dinner rolls/butter, and apple crisp topped with ice cream for dessert (no derogatory comments about ice cream twice in a 3-hour period, please). Both the traditional and fun awards will be presented to recap the weekend’s activities. We’ll then celebrate late into the night again in the hospitality room!
Sunday Sept. 26, 2021
Sunday morning will conclude the weekend’s events with the complimentary continental breakfast and the 9 a.m. board meeting held in the hospitality room. Good-byes will be exchanged as folks depart for home. Safety Fast!
Please know, we are keeping in mind we’re still in a pandemic and necessary health and safety protocols will be followed if in effect at the time. Intentional discussions regarding health and safety matters have taken place with the hotel and all venues, as it is our intention to run a safe, successful and enjoyable fall meet. If you plan to trailer your car, there will be a grassy area off the main parking lot of the hotel (in front of the tennis courts) for on-site truck and trailer parking.
Costs associated with event registration are below:
-
Registration fee, $45 per couple, $30 single.
-
Friday dinner, $21 per person, all-inclusive.
-
Saturday lunch (en route, during afternoon drive), $24 per person, all-inclusive.
-
Saturday dinner, $46 per person, all-inclusive.
Registrations are being handled online, please (in order to populate a spreadsheet with results). The process is easy and can be done from a computer, tablet or smartphone. Simply complete the information requested on each “page” of the registration form and click the arrow in the lower right corner to move on to the next section. If you need to go back to correct something, simply click the arrow in the lower left corner to go back. BE SURE TO NAVIGATE ALL THE WAY TO THE END OF THE FORM AND CLICK THE SUBMIT BUTTON A SECOND TIME!
You will receive an email confirmation of your registration which will include an amount due. Please send a check made payable to “Ohio Chapter New England MG-T Register” to David Smittle, 1714 County Road 20, Ada, OH 45810.
We feel we have planned a nice event and look forward to having you, your family and friends join us. Please remember to make your hotel reservations, then complete the online form to register for the event itself! We look forward to seeing you soon!
If you have have any questions, or if I may be of assistance in any way, please do not hesitate to reach out to me via email, phone call or text message.
Please register as soon as possible—with the way things are, venues need our counts early in order to be able to properly plan and accommodate us, thanks!
Dave and Kim Smittle
d-smittle@onu.edu or, text/call 419-230-8147
Attention friends from other clubs…
We welcome one-day drive in/out attendance from our friends with Lake Erie British Car Club, LoCo Brits, Emerald Necklace MG Register, Central Ohio MG Owners, MG Car Club Southwestern Ohio Centre or other clubs. We need to know of your planned attendance, in advance—please complete the online registration form. Also, please register for meals you plan to attend.
For one-day attendees, please select the Single registration fee option of $30 on the online registration form (even if a couple is attending). If your one day of attendance will be Friday, Sept. 24, we are charging only $20 to attend Friday only—please send in your payment, but deduct $10 from the total amount due. If the one-day you plan to attend is Saturday, please select the Single-rate registration fee of $30. If you plan to drive in/out (not stay at the hotel) and plan to attend both Friday and Saturday activities, please register for the whole event—choose $30 for a single attendee or $45 to register a couple for both days.
As a favor to our friends at Lake Erie British Car Club (Smittles and several others belong), some of us are attending a local cruise-in on Sunday, Sept. 26, after the Ohio Chapter GOF…
The Cars for Critters Cruise-in, which benefits the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, will be held at 14000 West State Route 2, Oak Harbor, on Sunday, Sept. 26 from 1:00 - 3:00. The event is free and includes tours of the marshes, goodie bags (while they last), plus, the Ottawa Wildlife Drive will be open! Xtreme Cuisine will also be serving lunch and milkshakes. Please consider attending this event.